Sir
Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890), sanitary reformer, born at Longsight, Manchester, on
24 Jan. 1800, was the son of James Chadwick, and grandson of Andrew Chadwick, a
friend of John Wesley. James Chadwick was a man of versatile talents; he taught
botany and music to John Dalton (1766-1844) the chemist; was an associate of the
advanced liberal politicians of his time; edited the Statesman newspaper
during the imprisonment of its editor, Daniel Lovell; became editor of the Western
Times, and finally settled as a journalist in New York, where he died at the
age of eighty-four.

Edwin
Chadwick received his early education at Longsight and Stockport, and on the
removal of his family to London in 1810 his training was continued by private
tutors. At an early age he went into an attorney's office, and subsequently
entered as a student at the Inner Temple, where he was called on 26 Nov. 1830.
While pursuing his legal studies he eked out his narrow means by writing for the
MorningHerald and other papers. His first article in the Westminster
Review, contributed in 1828, dealt with "Life Assurance." In the
course of preparing it he was led into a train of reasoning that developed into
what he called the "sanitary idea," and influenced the whole of his
after life. An article on the "Preventive Police," in the London
Review, 1829, gained him the admiration and friendship of Jeremy
Bentham. He lived with Bentham for a time, assisting him in completing his
administration code, and was with him at his death in 1832. Bentham wanted
Chadwick to become the systematic and permanent expounder of the Benthamite
philosophy, and offered him an independency on that condition. Chadwick declined
the proposal but accepted a legacy, and was long regarded as one of the
phiosopher's most distinguished disciples. Bentham also left him part of his
library, which has now been added to the collection at the University
College, Gower Street.

The
idea of eradicating disease now took possession of Chadwick's mind, and he spent
much time in personal investigation of fever dens. While he was still hesitating
as to his future course of life, he received and accepted the offer of an
assistant commissionership on the poor-law commission, then (1832) on the
threshold of its work. In the following year he was appointed a chief
commissioner, his promotion being due to the zeal he had exhibited in collecting
a vast array of facts as to the existing system of poor-law management, and to
his great ability in suggesting remedies for its evils. His improved methods at
first met with disfavour from his colleagues, but eventually his propositions,
with some important modifications, were carried out. In the same year (1833) he
was engaged on the royal commission appointed to investigate the condition of
factory children, and was the chief author of the report which recommended the
appointment of government inspectors under a central authority, and the
limitation of children's work to six hours daily. Eventually the report led to
the passing of the Ten Hours Act and the establishment of the half-time system
of education. Among other proposals in the report was one that employers should
be held responsible for accidents to their work-people, a suggestion that was,
after a very long interval, carried into effect by the passing of the Employers'
Liability Act (1898). In the course of his evidence before a committee of
the House of Commons in 1833, he spoke in favor of restricting the traffic in
spirituous liquors, and the provision of healthy recreations for the people. He
also advocated the payment of pensions to discharged soldiers and sailors, and
the desirability of teaching the men a trade while on service.

In
1834 Chadwick took the office of secretary to the new poor-law commission, and
thus became chief executive officer under the Poor-law
Law Amendment Act. It is little to say that he brought extraordinary
industry and ability to bear in his difficult task, which was performed amid
many embarrassments. At first he had only half-hearted support from the
commissioners, Sir Thomas Frankland Lewis and John G. Shaw-Lefevre, and when
they resigned and George Nicholls went to Ireland he was met with strong
opposition from their successors, George Cornewall Lewis and Sir Francis Head.
As a member of the commission appointed in 1838 to inquire into the best means
of establishing an efficient constabulary force, he along with Sir Charles Rowan
prepared a report which embodied the principle expounded in his original paper
on "Preventive Police:" namely, "to get at the removable
antecedents of crime."

The
first sanitary commission was am pointed at Chadwick's instigation in 1839,its immediate occasion being due to anapplication
for his assistance by the Whitechapel authorities, who were driven to despair by
an epidemical outbreak in theirdistrict. The
commissioners probed the evilto its source;
and their report with itsstartling
resolutions and remedial suggestions attracted very wide attention, and it
forthwith became a text-book of sanitation throughout the country. To Chadwick's
directing hand in this matter may safely beascribed
the beginning of public sanitary reform.

Abont
this time Chadwick induced Lorda Lyndhurst
to introduce in the new Registration Act, by which the registrar's office was
established, the important clause providingfor
the registration of the causes as well as the number of deaths. The training of
pauper children was a subject which occupied part of his attention in 1840; and
his Report on the Result of a Special Inquiry into the Practice of Interment
in Towns came out in 1843. His recommendations in both these matters
resulted in important legislative measures.

Another
sanitary commission suggested by Chadwick was appointed in 1844, andreported
the same year, but progress was delayed by critical political events. While this
was sitting Chadwick, along with Rowland Hill, John Stuart Mill, Lyon Playfair,
Dr. Neill Arnott, and other friends, formed a society called "Friends in
Council," which met at each other's houses to discuss questions of
political economy.

In
1840 the poor-law commission, estabished in
1834, came to an end, its dissolution isbeing
brought about by disagreements between Chadwick and the two commissioners.
Chadwick's own remarkable zeal and his impatience with those who shrank from
carrying out his drastic plans of reform, especially those based on his full
belief in centralization, undoubtedly contributed largely to breaking up the
board. In the following year he became a commissioner to inquire into the health
of London, and in the report advocated the separate system of drainage. On the
recommendation of Prince Albert he was created Commander of the Bath (among the
few non-military personnel to receive this honor) in 1848, in which year the
first board ofhealth was formed, with
Chadwick as oneof the commissioners. He
remained in active service until the board was merged inthe
local government board in 1854, whenhe
retired on a pension of 1,000 pounds a year.

During
the Crimean war he persuadedLord Palmerston
to send out a commissionto inquire into and
relieve the sufferings ofthe troops. In 1858
he brought before the social science congress the subject of defective
sanitation in the Indian army, andthe
support which his views gained afterwards led to the appointment of the Indianarmy sanitary commission.

In
1855 his advocacy of competitive examinations as tests for first appointments inthe public service was followed by the appointment
of the civil service commission. This was an a subject with him, for he hadbrought it forward in 1829. Among thematters
with which he subsequently occupied himself were sanitary engineering,open
spaces, agricultural drainage, andsanitation
in the tropics. He also urgedthe maintenance
of railways as public highways by a responsible public service.

While
in Paris in 1864 in connectionwith the
preparation for an exhibition,Chadwick had a
conversation with Napeleon IIl, who asked him what he thought ofParis.
Chadwick's characteristic answerwas:
"Sire, they say that Augustus foundRome
a city of brick and left it a city ofmarble.
If your majesty, finding Parisstinking, will
leave it sweet, you will morethan rival the
first emperor of Rome." Thereply so
pleased the emperor that he directedan
inquiry into the subject referred to.

In
1867 he was brought out as a candidate for the representation of London
University in parliament, but was unsuccessful,though
he received the active support ofJohn Stuart
Mill and many others.

Subsequently,
by desire of W. E. Gladstone, Chadwick examined the economy of ageneral
system of cheap postal telegraphy, and in
1871 inquired into a plan for the drainageof
Cawnpore, submitted to him by the Dukeof
Argyll. He presented an alternativeplan,
that of the "separate system," namely,the
removal of storm-water by distinctchannels,
and of fouled water and excretaby separate
self-cleansing house drains andsewers, which
principle was approved by thegovernment and
carried out by the armysanitary commission.
This was the lastsubject on which Chadwick
was consulted bythe ministry. He afterwards
filled the presidential chair of the section of economy ofthe
British Association, and of the sectionof
public health of the Social Science Association, and presided over the congress
ofthe Sanitary Institute in 1878, and overthe section of public health of the sanitarycongress
in 1881. He also acted as president of the Association of Sanitary Inspectors.

His
public services were tardily recognizedin
1889 by the bestowal of a knighthood.On the
continent his work was well known,and he was
elected a corresponding memberof the
Institutes of France and Belgium, andof the
Societies of Medicine and Hygiene ofFrance,
Belgium, and Italy. He died atPark Cottage,
East Sheen, Surrey, on 6 July 1890. By his marriage in 1889 toRachel
Dawson Kennedy, daughter of JohnKennedy
(1769-1855) of Manchester,he left an only
son, Osbert Chadwick, C.M.G., an eminent sanitary engineer. A portion of his
library was presented by his son to the Manchester Free Library.

Chadwick
was a voluminous writer of pamphlets, reports, papers, and letters to the press,
his latest production being dated1889. his
chief works have been admirably condensed by Sir Benjamin WardRichardson
in two volumes, published in 1889, entitled The Health ofNations:
a Review of the Works of Edwin
Chadwick, with a Biographical Introduction. The first volume is in two
parts, "Political and Economical,"
and "Educational and Social," and the second, also inis
two parts, "Sanitary and Prevention of Disease," and "Prevention
of Pauperism andPoverty." A portrait is
prefixed to the first volume.